Development of a semi-automatic self learning pattern recognition system for the control of electronic boards

This project was funded under the Applied Research Grants Scheme administered by Enterprise Ireland. The project was a partnership between Galway - Mayo Institute of Technology and an industrial company, Tyco/Mallinckrodt Galway. The project aimed to develop a semi - automatic, self - learning pattern recognition system capable of detecting defects on the printed circuits boards such as component vacancy, component misalignment, component orientation, component error, and component weld. The research was conducted in three directions: image acquisition, image filtering/recognition and software development. Image acquisition studied the process of forming and digitizing images and some fundamental aspects regarding the human visual perception. The importance of choosing the right camera and illumination system for a certain type of problem has been highlighted. Probably the most important step towards image recognition is image filtering, The filters are used to correct and enhance images in order to prepare them for recognition. Convolution, histogram equalisation, filters based on Boolean mathematics, noise reduction, edge detection, geometrical filters, cross-correlation filters and image compression are some examples of the filters that have been studied and successfully implemented in the software application. The software application developed during the research is customized in order to meet the requirements of the industrial partner. The application is able to analyze pictures, perform the filtering, build libraries, process images and generate log files. It incorporates most of the filters studied and together with the illumination system and the camera it provides a fully integrated framework able to analyze defects on printed circuit boards.

Investigation into the potential for establishing a self-sustainable wetland ecosystem over pyritic mine tailings

Research was conducted to investigate the potential for ecologically engineering a sustainable wetland ecosystem over pyritic mine tailings to prevent the generation of acid mine drainage. Ecological engineering is technology with the primary goal being the creation of self-sustainable ecological systems. Work involved the design and construction of a pilot-scale wetland system comprising three wetland cells, each covering 100 m2. Approximately forty tonnes of pyritic mine tailings were deposited on the base of the first cell above a synthetic liner, covered with peat, flooded and planted with emergent wetland macrophytes Typha latifolia, Phragmites australis, and Juncus effusus. The second cell was constructed as a conventional free water surface wetland, planted identically, and used as a reference wetland/experimental control. Wetland monitoring to determine long-term sustainability focused on indicators of ecosystem health including ecological, hydrological, physico-chemical, geochemical, and biotic metrics. An integrated assessment was conducted that involved field ecology in addition to ecological risk assessment. The objective of the field ecology study was to use vegetative parameters as ecological indicators for documenting wetlands success or degradation. The goal of the risk assessment was to determine if heavy-metal contamination of the wetland sediments occurred through metal mobilisation from the underlying tailings, and to evaluate if subsequent water column chemistry and biotic metal concentrations were significantly correlated with adverse wetland ecosystem impacts. Data were used to assess heavy metal bioavailability within the system as a function of metal speciation in the wetland sediments. Results indicate hydrology is the most important variable in the design and establishment of the tailings wetland and suggest a wetland cover is an ecologically viable alternative for pyritic tailings which are feasible to flood. Ecological data indicate that in terms of species richness and diversity, the tailings-wetland was exhibiting the ecological characteristics of natural wetlands within two years. Ata indicate that pH and conductivity in the tailings-wetland were not adversely impacted by the acid-generating potential or sulphate concentration of the tailings substrate and its porewater. Similarly, no enhanced seasonal impacts from sulphate or metals in the water column, nor adverse impacts on the final water quality of the outflows, were detected. Mean total metal concentrations in the sediments of the tailings-wetland indicate no significant adverse mobilisation of metals into the peat substrate from the tailings. Correlation analyses indicate a general increase in sediment metal concentration in this wetland with increasing water depth and pH, and a corresponding decrease in the metal concentrations of the water column. Sediment extractions also showed enrichment of Cd, Fe, Pb and Zn in the oxidisable fraction (including sulphides and organic matter) of the tailings-wetland sediments. These data suggest that adsorption and coprecipitation of metals is occurring from the water column of the tailings wetland with organic material at increasing depths under reducing conditions. The long-term control of metal bioavailability in the tailings wetland will likely be related to the presence and continual build-up of organic carbon binding sites in the developing wetland above the tailings. Metal speciation including free-metal ion concentration and the impact of physico-chemical parameters particularly pH and organic matter, were investigated to assess ecotoxicological risk. Results indicate that potentially bioavailable metals (the sum of the exchangeable and reducible fractions) within the tailings wetland are similar to values cited for natural wetlands. Estimated free-metal ion concentrations calculated from geochemical regression models indicate lower free-metal ion concentrations of Cd in the tailings wetland than natural wetlands and slightly higher free-metal ion concentrations of Pb and Zn. Increased concentrations of metals in roots, rhizomes and stems of emergent macrophytes did not occur in the tailings wetland. Even though a substantial number of Typha latifolia plants were found rooting directly into tailings, elevated metals were not found in these plant tissues. Phragmites also did not exhibit elevated metal concentrations in any plant tissues. Typha and Phragmites populations appear to be exhibiting metal-tolerant behaviour. The chemistry of the water column and sediments in Silvermines wetland were also investigated and were much more indicative of a wetland system impacted by heavy metal contamination than the tailings-wetland. Mean Dc, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn concentrations in the water column and sediments of Silvermines wetlands were substantially higher than in the pilot wetlands and closely approximate concentrations in these matrices contaminated with metals from mining. In addition, mean sulphate concentration in Silvermines wetland was substantially higher and is closer to sulphate concentrations in waters associated with mining. Potentially bioavailable metals were substantially elevated in Silvermines wetland in comparison to the pilot wetlands and higher than those calculated for natural rive sediments. However, Fe oxy-hydroxide concentrations in Silvermines sediments are also much higher than in the pilot wetlands and this significantly impacts the concentration of free-metal ions in the sediment porewater. The free-metal ion concentrations for Pb and Zn indicate that Silvermines wetland is retaining metals and acting as a treatment wetland for drainage emanating from Silvermines tailings dam.

Regulation of Nedd4-2 self-ubiquitination and stability by a PY motif located within its HECT-domain.

Ubiquitin ligases play a pivotal role in substrate recognition and ubiquitin transfer, yet little is known about the regulation of their catalytic activity. Nedd4 (neural-precursor-cell-expressed, developmentally down-regulated 4)-2 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase composed of a C2 domain, four WW domains (protein-protein interaction domains containing two conserved tryptophan residues) that bind PY motifs (L/PPXY) and a ubiquitin ligase HECT (homologous with E6-associated protein C-terminus) domain. In the present paper we show that the WW domains of Nedd4-2 bind (weakly) to a PY motif (LPXY) located within its own HECT domain and inhibit auto-ubiquitination. Pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that mutation of the HECT PY-motif decreases the stability of Nedd4-2, suggesting that it is involved in stabilization of this E3 ligase. Interestingly, the HECT PY-motif mutation does not affect ubiquitination or down-regulation of a known Nedd4-2 substrate, ENaC (epithelial sodium channel). ENaC ubiquitination, in turn, appears to promote Nedd4-2 self-ubiquitination. These results support a model in which the inter- or intra-molecular WW-domain-HECT PY-motif interaction stabilizes Nedd4-2 by preventing self-ubiquitination. Substrate binding disrupts this interaction, allowing self-ubiquitination of Nedd4-2 and subsequent degradation, resulting in down-regulation of Nedd4-2 once it has ubiquitinated its target. These findings also point to a novel mechanism employed by a ubiquitin ligase to regulate itself differentially compared with substrate ubiquitination and stability.

Experiences with the control of schistosomiasis mansoni in two foci in Central Africa

Experiences with population-based chemotherapy and other methods for the control of schistosomiasis mansoni in two subsaharan foci are described. In the forest area of Maniema (Zaire), intense transmission of Schistosoma mansoni, high prevalences and intensities of infection, and important morbidity have been documental. Taking into account the limited financial means and the poor logistic conditions, the control strategy has been based mainly on targeted chemotherapy of heavily infected people (>600 epg). After ten years of intervention, prevalences and intensities have hardly been affected, but the initial severe hepatosplenic morbidity has almost disappeared. In Burundi, a national research and control programme has been initiated in 1982. Prevalences, intensities and morbidity were moderate, transmission was focal and erratic in time and space. A more structural control strategy was developed, based on screening and selective therapy, health education, sanitation and domestic water supply. Prevalences and intensities have been considerably reduced, though the results show focal and unpredicatable variations. Transmission and reinfection were not signifcantly affected by chemotherapy alone, and eventual outcome of repeated selective treatment appears to be limited by the sensitivity of the screening method. Intestinal morbidity was strongly reduced by community-based selective treatment, but hepatosplenic enlargement was hardly affected; this is possibly due to the confounding impact of increasing malaria morbidity. The experiences show the importance of local structures and conditions for the development of an adapted control strategy. It is further concluded that population-based chemotherapy is a highly valid tool for the rapid control of morbidity, but should in most operational conditions not be considered as a tool for transmission control. Integration of planning, execution and surveillance in regular health services...

Transitions from reproductive systems governed by two self-incompatible Loci to one in fungi.

Self-incompatibility (SI), a reproductive system broadly present in plants, chordates, fungi, and protists, might be controlled by one or several multiallelic loci. How a transition in the number of SI loci can occur and the consequences of such events for the population's genetics and dynamics have not been studied theoretically. Here, we provide analytical descriptions of two transition mechanisms: linkage of the two SI loci (scenario 1) and the loss of function of one incompatibility gene within a mating type of a population with two SI loci (scenario 2). We show that invasion of populations by the new mating type form depends on whether the fitness of the new type is lowered, and on the allelic diversity of the SI loci and the recombination between the two SI loci in the starting population. Moreover, under scenario 1, it also depends on the frequency of the SI alleles that became linked. We demonstrate that, following invasion, complete transitions in the reproductive system occurs under scenario 2 and is predicted only for small populations under scenario 1. Interestingly, such events are associated with a drastic reduction in mating type number.

Hemispheric processing of differently valenced and self-relevant attachment words in middle-aged married and separated individuals

The reliance in experimental psychology on testing undergraduate populations with relatively little life experience, and/or ambiguously valenced stimuli with varying degrees of self-relevance, may have contributed to inconsistent findings in the literature on the valence hypothesis. To control for these potential limitations, the current study assessed lateralised lexical decisions for positive and negative attachment words in 40 middle-aged male and female participants. Self-relevance was manipulated in two ways: by testing currently married compared with previously married individuals and by assessing self-relevance ratings individually for each word. Results replicated a left hemisphere advantage for lexical decisions and a processing advantage of emotional over neutral words but did not support the valence hypothesis. Positive attachment words yielded a processing advantage over neutral words in the right hemisphere, while emotional words (irrespective of valence) yielded a processing advantage over neutral words in the left hemisphere. Both self-relevance manipulations were unrelated to lateralised performance. The role of participant sex and age in emotion processing are discussed as potential modulators of the present findings.

Genome-wide association study of recurrent major depressive disorder in two European case-control cohorts.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent disorder with substantial heritability. Heritability has been shown to be substantial and higher in the variant of MDD characterized by recurrent episodes of depression. Genetic studies have thus far failed to identify clear and consistent evidence of genetic risk factors for MDD. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in two independent datasets. The first GWAS was performed on 1022 recurrent MDD patients and 1000 controls genotyped on the Illumina 550 platform. The second was conducted on 492 recurrent MDD patients and 1052 controls selected from a population-based collection, genotyped on the Affymetrix 5.0 platform. Neither GWAS identified any SNP that achieved GWAS significance. We obtained imputed genotypes at the Illumina loci for the individuals genotyped on the Affymetrix platform, and performed a meta-analysis of the two GWASs for this common set of approximately half a million SNPs. The meta-analysis did not yield genome-wide significant results either. The results from our study suggest that SNPs with substantial odds ratio are unlikely to exist for MDD, at least in our datasets and among the relatively common SNPs genotyped or tagged by the half-million-loci arrays. Meta-analysis of larger datasets is warranted to identify SNPs with smaller effects or with rarer allele frequencies that contribute to the risk of MDD.

Higher education as formation of the self and citizenship: an ethnography of the University Students from Amman, Jordan

My interest in higher education and citizenship in the Middle East at large and in Jordan in particular is fostered by some of the reflections Eickelman proposed (1992). Being a quite recent phenomenon, intimately linked with the more general topic of state formation it seemed to me more suitable to study it in a little country with a recent history (a field study left almost unexplored until now as far as Jordan is concerned, to the best of my knowledge, since Antoun 1994 focuses on the migration as a quest for higher education). The process of state formation in Jordan is quite studied. I thus intended to study the higher education policies as an attempt both to create a national citizenry and more recently as a way of controlling the more problematic part of the population (youth, which constitutes more than the double of the population. See UNDP and Ministry of Planning 2000). How do the young students enter the university system, and in which way does this system work? How is this system designed, in order to retain social control of the students (since they are usually perceived to be a factor of social and political instability, as in Iran or in Egypt)? Is there any significant difference between different faculties? And if so, why? My conclusions at this stage are that the university system is an integral part of the survival of the regime. The system works quite well, and Jordan has one of the best educational position in the region. Yet there are important distinctions to be made: the access to the better faculties is socially selective while the less valued faculties are left to the poorer and less wealthy youth. This results in a different treatment of the students and of the courses that I analysed. In the better faculties the teaching standards are quite high, and the relationship between professors and students is almost on a same-level base, while in the less privileged faculties the opposite is true. Thus we can observe a concrete politics of divide et impera intended to split the youth in two. For the more privileged there are some freedoms, both within and outside classes, designed I guess at forging them as autonomous individuals. On the opposite the less privileged are kept under tight control, even if also these students are a privileged category among youth at large.

Supervisió i control de la lectura: anàlisi de procediments, judicis metacognitius i resultats de comprensió en estudiants d'Educació Secundària Obligatòria

Els processos de comprensió lectora són complexes, i requereixen de l’ús autorregulat, conscient i deliberat de la metacognició en les seves dues vessants: supervisió i control. L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és analitzar les relacions entre aquests dos components, i la seva repercussió en la comprensió lectora que finalment s’assoleix. Per tal de tractar aquesta qüestió s’han analitzat els processos de lectura seguits per 60 alumnes d’Educació Secundària Obligatòria. La presència i el tipus de relectura ha estat considerada com a mesura de control (estratègia emprada per millorar la pròpia comprensió), mentre que els judicis metacognitius són considerats com a mesura de supervisió. També es va elaborar una prova de comprensió lectora incloent preguntes que requerissin diferents nivells de processament cognitiu, de més superficial a més profund. Els nostres resultats preliminars mostren una relació entre l’ajust dels judicis metacognitius i la comprensió lectora assolida; els lectors que millor entenen el text tendeixen a ser els que millor supervisen la seva comprensió. La relectura també s’ha mostrat útil per millorar la comprensió, ja que els participants obtenen millors resultats després de rellegir. Per últim, s’ha trobat una relació significativa entre l’ajust dels judicis metacognitius i la relectura. D’una banda, aquests resultats subratllen la importància de la supervisió i el control en la comprensió lectora, i ofereixen evidències per explicar les complexes relacions entre supervisió, control, i resultats de comprensió. A més, els processos de lectura i els objectius amb què hom rellegeix apareixen com a temes rellevants que requereixen ser investigats per comprendre millor la interacció entre els processos de supervisió i control en la comprensió lectora. D’altra banda, els resultats tenen valuoses implicacions educatives, ja que proporcionen evidències de la importància d’ensenyar processos metacognitius des d’un punt de vista estratègic, en contraposició a les “tècniques”, per tal de millorar la comprensió lectora.

Struggles for meaning and struggles for control: the diffusion of bandwagon technology in two institutional environments

In this thesis, I examine the diffusion process for a complex medical technology, the PET scanner, in two different health care systems, one of which is more market-oriented (Switzerland) and the other more centrally managed by a public agency (Quebec). The research draws on institutional and socio-political theories of the diffusion of innovations to examine how institutional contexts affect processes of diffusion. I find that diffusion proceeds more rapidly in Switzerland than in Quebec, but that processes in both jurisdictions are characterized by intense struggles among providers and between providers and public agencies. I show that the institutional environment influences these processes by determining the patterns of material resources and authority available to actors in their struggles to strategically control the technology, and by constituting the discursive resources or institutional logics on which actors may legitimately draw in their struggles to give meaning to the technology in line with their interests and values. This thesis illustrates how institutional structures and meanings manifest themselves in the context of specific decisions within an organizational field, and reveals the ways in which governance structures may be contested and realigned when they conflict with interests that are legitimized by dominant institutional logics. It is argued that this form of contestation and readjustment at the margins constitutes one mechanism by which institutional frameworks are tested, stretched and reproduced or redefined.

Comparison of two commercial formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis for the control of Anopheles aquasalis (Diptera: Culicidae) at three salt concentrations

Anopheles aquasalis larvae are salt water tolerant, preferring concentrations between 10 and 20 parts per thousand (ppt). The larvicidal efficacy of two formulations of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Vectobac-12AS® and Bactivec®), was investigated against An. aquasalis at salinities of 0, 10, and 20 ppt. A probit analysis was used to calculate the lethal concentrations (LC50 and LC95) for each product at each salinity. The LC50 and LC95 were higher for Bactivec® than Vectobac-12AS®, and for Bactivec®, the LC50 and LC95 increased with salinity. Vectobac-12AS® should thus be preferred to Bactivec® for An. aquasalis control, especially in saline breeding habitats.

IL-12 controls cytotoxicity of a novel subset of self-antigen-specific human CD28+ cytolytic T cells.

Activated CD8 T cells develop cytotoxicity against autologous cells bearing foreign Ags and self/tumor Ags. However, self-specific cytolysis needs to be kept under control to avoid overwhelming immunopathology. After peptide vaccination of melanoma patients, we studied molecular and functional properties of T cell subsets specific for the self/tumor Ag Melan-A/MART-1. Ex vivo analysis revealed three Ag-specific effector memory (EM) populations, as follows: CD28-negative EM (EM28(-)) T cells strongly expressing granzyme/perforin, and two EM28(+) subsets, one with high and the other with low level expression of these cytotoxic proteins. For further functional characterization, we generated 117 stable CD8 T cell clones by ex vivo flow cytometry-based sorting of these subsets. All EM28(-)-derived clones lysed target cells with high efficacy. In contrast, EM28(+)-derived clones were heterogenous, and could be classified in two groups, one with high and the other with low killing capacity, correlating with granzyme/perforin expression. High and low killer phenotypes remained surprisingly stable for several months. However, strongly increased granzyme expression and cytotoxicity were observed after exposure to IL-12. Thus, the data reveal a newly identified subset of CD28(+) conditional killer T cells. Because CD28 can mediate strong costimulatory signals, tight cytotoxicity control, as shown in this study through IL-12, may be particularly important for subsets of T cells expressing CD28.

Validation and performance comparison of two carbon isotope ratio methods to control the misuse of androgens in humans.

Carbon isotope ratio of androgens in urine specimens is routinely determined to exclude an abuse of testosterone or testosterone prohormones by athletes. Increasing application of gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) in the last years for target and systematic investigations on samples has resulted in the demand for rapid sample throughput as well as high selectivity in the extraction process particularly in the case of conspicuous samples. For that purpose, we present herein the complimentary use of an SPE-based assay and an HPLC fractionation method as a two-stage strategy for the isolation of testosterone metabolites and endogenous reference compounds prior to GC/C/IRMS analyses. Assays validation demonstrated acceptable performance in terms of intermediate precision (range: 0.1-0.4 per thousand) and Bland-Altman analyses revealed no significant bias (0.2 per thousand). For further validation of this two-stage analyses strategy, all the specimens (n=124) collected during a major sport event were processed.

Characteristics and effectiveness of diabetes self-management educational programs targeted to racial/ethnic minority groups: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.

BACKGROUND It is not clear to what extent educational programs aimed at promoting diabetes self-management in ethnic minority groups are effective. The aim of this work was to systematically review the effectiveness of educational programs to promote the self-management of racial/ethnic minority groups with type 2 diabetes, and to identify programs' characteristics associated with greater success. METHODS We undertook a systematic literature review. Specific searches were designed and implemented for Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scirus, Current Contents and nine additional sources (from inception to October 2012). We included experimental and quasi-experimental studies assessing the impact of educational programs targeted to racial/ethnic minority groups with type 2 diabetes. We only included interventions conducted in countries members of the OECD. Two reviewers independently screened citations. Structured forms were used to extract information on intervention characteristics, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. When possible, we conducted random-effects meta-analyses using standardized mean differences to obtain aggregate estimates of effect size with 95% confidence intervals. Two reviewers independently extracted all the information and critically appraised the studies. RESULTS We identified thirty-seven studies reporting on thirty-nine educational programs. Most of them were conducted in the US, with African American or Latino participants. Most programs obtained some benefits over standard care in improving diabetes knowledge, self-management behaviors and clinical outcomes. A meta-analysis of 20 randomized controlled trials (3,094 patients) indicated that the programs produced a reduction in glycated hemoglobin of -0.31% (95% CI -0.48% to -0.14%). Diabetes knowledge and self-management measures were too heterogeneous to pool. Meta-regressions showed larger reduction in glycated hemoglobin in individual and face to face delivered interventions, as well as in those involving peer educators, including cognitive reframing techniques, and a lower number of teaching methods. The long-term effects remain unknown and cost-effectiveness was rarely estimated. CONCLUSIONS Diabetes self-management educational programs targeted to racial/ethnic minority groups can produce a positive effect on diabetes knowledge and on self-management behavior, ultimately improving glycemic control. Future programs should take into account the key characteristics identified in this review.